Using Subversion and Visual SourceSafe in parallel?

Question

In my company, we use SourceSafe and Visual studio. Starting up a minor project, I am eager to try a more modern source control, I am aiming at Subversion. But I need to work with the previous projects in SourceSafe, at least for now.

Q: Will it work well to use both SourceSafe and Subversion in the visual studio IDE? Using what? And are there things in Subversion I may feel painful if I am used to SourceSafe?

Answer 1

Regarding your first question, I don't know of anything that would stop the two working side by side. You can try Ankh for a free SVN VS add-in, or VisualSVN is a commercial option.

Regarding your second question, SVN has a different model than SourceSafe. SourceSafe requires checkout (pessimistic) whereas SVN you just change your files and commit when ready (optimistic). Any conflicts will need to be merged. Other things differ as well, and you should definitely read basic SVN documentation before you start using it. TortoiseSVN provides both excellent Windows shell integration and good doco too.

PS. Once you try SVN in earnest, you will never look back to SourceSafe.